Black Tuxedos, Frilly Dresses, and Grandfather Clocks

Mello felt Matt stiffen in shock, but gradually he began to relax, leaning into the tall blonde and wrapping his arms around Mello's neck. Mello continued to kiss Matt, feeling as if a large weight were being lifted from his shoulders as he ravaged the younger boy's mouth with his own. By this time, Matt had begun to kiss back almost a fiercely as the chocoholic across from him. Eventually, both boys needed air and the kiss was broken. They stared at each other panting, and Mello was sure his face was just as red as Matt's. Without thinking, Mello reached across from him and brushed a stray lock of hair out of Matt's eyes, this seemed to shake the red-head out of his daze and he started.

"Mello…?"

"Matt, I'm really sorry, I screwed up big time and I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to talk to me again but I just really need to tell you something." Mello started, the words all tumbling out in a rush. "I love you. I've loved you for a really long time, and when you asked me if I would go to the dance with you I should have said yes, I should have jumped up and down and danced in circles, I should have kissed you, but I was too scared and ran off. Since then, I've been miserable, nothing matters anymore. I need you Matty, without you my life is empty and lonely and nothing makes sense. So I just wanted to tell you that and if you want to go to the dance together I wouldn't go with anyone else." All this was said in one breath and for an immeasurable moment, Matt just stared at the boy kneeling across from him. Then slowly, a huge smile spread over his face and Matt practically tackle-glomped Mello into the opposite wall.

"Of course I still want to go with you Mels!" he cried delightedly, snuggling into the shocked blonde. "And just so you know," the red-head added, tilting his head upwards so he could Mello's face above him, "I love you too." And with that being said, Matt reached up and gently pressed his lips to Mello's, feeling happier than he had ever felt in his entire life.

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"Dammit Matt! Why are we doing this again?!" The agitated blonde looked at himself in the mirror and grimaced in disgust at his reflection. I was the night of the Winter Ball and Roger and taken it upon himself to send both Mello and Matt black tuxedos. They came with the jackets, white shirts, dress shoes and socks, and ties. Mello had only tried his on to see how it would fit; hoping Roger had gotten the wrong size. No such luck, the tux fit the blonde's lean figure perfectly.

Matt came out of the bathroom, dressed in his usual cargos and striped shirt. His spiky hair was still damp from his shower and framed his face nicely. The red-head bit his lip as he took in the sight of the usually leather-clad boy dressed in a tuxedo and tie.

"Oh c'mon Mel, it could be a lot worse!" he giggled standing behind the enraged chocoholic and playfully ruffling his already untidy locks.

"Oh yeah, how?" Mello growled.

"He could've sent you a dress!"

This was too much for Mello. Spinning on the spot he grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at Matt with all his strength. Matt dodged the pillow and dove onto the couch, Mello hot on his tail. A ferocious tussle ensued in which both boys ended up falling off the couch. Finally Mello sat panting on top of the smaller red-head, who was still smiling.

"Oh come off it Mel, don't make such a big deal out of it!" Matt said. "I think it makes you look sexy." He leaned up and kissed the blonde lightly on the lips. Mello responded hungrily and ravaged Matt's mouth with his own, running his tongue along the other boy's lips and causing Matt to whimper happily. After a few minutes both boys were forced to come up for air and Mello clambered off of his boyfriend, shedding the hideous jacket as he went.

"Where are you going?" Matt called after him, looking slightly disappointed. Mello swooped down, kissed him lightly on the nose and straightened, still shedding the formal layer Roger had sent.

"I'm going to change. Roger can make us go to this stupid dance but there is no way I'm wearing that thing!"

A few minutes later Mello was back, dressed in his usual tight leather pants and too-short vest. His rosary hung from around his neck and Dr. Martin boots were laced up his legs.

"You know, I take it back. You look sexier dressed as you always are." Matt said thoughtfully as he finished pulling on his own boots and slinging his arm casually around the energetic blonde's waist. Matt was now even with Mello in height and he took advantage of this factor as he laid his head on the feisty blonde's shoulder.

Ten minutes later both boys were standing at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hall of Wammy's. Everyone else was crowding around the doors of the dining room with their dates talking, examining each other's outfits, and checking their watches. Mello and Matt exchanged glances as Linda glided by dressed in a pastel pink dress with about a million ruffles and bows looking around for her date anxiously. She stopped in front of Matt and Mello, still glancing around every few seconds.

"You two haven't seen Near have you?" she asked bouncing up and down nervously as she spoke.

Matt looked like he was resisting the urge to throw-up. Mello on the other hand looked like he was trying not to laugh-and was failing miserably. "You and Near?!" he gasped, "How many puzzles did you have to bribe him with before he agreed to that?!"

"NONE!" Linda retorted looking angry. "I asked him last week and he said sure since we needed partners- where are your partners anyway?" she asked looking around. "And how come you're not dressed nice? Roger said he would help pick up outfits for anyone who needed them."

"Oh and he did such a good job," Matt said sarcastically, completely ignoring the first question. "If Roger picked that out than I'm glad I decided to come dressed as-is. It looks like a pin-cushion threw-up all over you!"

Linda looked down at her dress in shock, and turned to stalk away; stomping on Mello's foot as she did so.

"Obnoxious bitch," Mello muttered, shaking his foot from side-to-side, "and why didn't she stomp on you?!" he asked angrily and Matt fought to keep a straight face.

"W-well you did suggest that Near doesn't like her very much and she's always been very sensitive to that…Plus I'm not as mean to her as you are," he added thoughtfully.

"Hey, that wasn't my fault last time; she spilt paint all over that case report of mine. I was up all night working on that thing!"

"Come off in Mel," Matt said pushing his shoulder playfully, "you were only up all night 'cause you spent the entire day making those fake cookies to prank Roger with."

Mello opened his mouth to retaliate, when the doors to the dining hall were opened and everyone began streaming in. Both boys took a deep breath and, holding hands, stepped over the threshold.

Around them, all the girls were squealing gleefully, and the boys were laughing and having a good time as well. Matt's mouth dropped open in horror and Mello closed his eyes, seeming to pray silently for a great harpoon spear to come whooshing down from the ceiling and decapitate him.

"Welcome," Roger called from the adult table holding a great glass of wine up in the air, "to Wammy's Winter Ball!!!"

The dining hall was completely decked out. Tinsel was strung from every possible place you could think of and paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling. The tables were piled high with every kind of winter sweet and snack you could think of, including warm apple cider and hot chocolate. A large Christmas tree stood at the back of the hall a little to the right of the adult table. Fake powdered snow was strew into great drifts around the entire room, except for a large space in the center of the hall; the dance floor.

The worst part (if that was even possible at this point) had to be the occupants of Wammy's all clustering around the hall, happily laughing and enjoying their evening. The boys were all dressed in crisp, black tuxedos and shiny shoes (sans a certain blonde and redhead). Most were attempting to readjust bowties or small handkerchiefs in their pockets.

The girls were dressed in every color of the rainbow. From pastel pink to neon green and each one was different in terms of the wearer's personality. Some had a TON of bows and ruffles (like Linda's) and others were plain. Some were strapless (Roger had fun looking at those particular girls), and yet others had full sleeves. One girl had managed to convince Roger into a back corset gown with a fishnet shirt. She was currently having a large, spiked dog collar fastened around her neck by her date, who seemed to have a black rose in his lapel instead of the usual red carnation. Both the boy and the girl seemed to be wearing matching steel-toed combat boots that caused many of the other couples to give them a wide berth on the dance floor.

"Shoot me now," moaned Mello.

"Nope, then how'd I kill myself?"

"Stab yourself while you're shooting me!"

"I don't think I have the best timing for that. You'd probably end up without an arm."

"Then poison yourself."

"Uh-no. Do you realize how weak that looks?!"

Mello hit his forehead with his palm in frustration. "Then what do you propose we do?" he asked angrily.

"Well," said Matt grinning mischievously, "we could just dance."

Mello looked up in horror. "No!" he whispered hoarsely. "No WAY Matt. There is no FUCKING way I am going to get on that floor with anyone and dance. No way in HELL!!!!"

"Too late!" Matt said gleefully and promptly pulled the agitated blonde onto the dance floor.

As the thin redhead continued dragging the chocoholic towards the dance floor the fishnet girl and her date must have taken control of the DJ and started a playlist of their own because suddenly Kelly Clarksen's "Behind These Hazel Eyes" changed and Korn's "Y'all Wanna Single" began blasting from the stereos. This was definitely helpful for Matt. Mello loved Korn and he slowly started to relax as the pounding of the bass made his shoes vibrate.

Both Matt and Mello reached the almost-deserted dance floor and started moving to the metal pulsing throughout the room. The only other couple now dancing was the collar-wearing goth girl and her date, who both smiled warmly as the two boys joined them.

"Great song!" Mello shouted to the girl when they got close enough to hear each other over the booming chorus of "Y'all wanna single say f*ck that! F*ck that f*ck that sh*t!"

"Thanks!" she called back smiling and stomping her boots around in a dangerous fashion. "That other music sucked, so we decided to take the roll of DJ onto ourselves!"

By this time Roger had come to his senses and was trying to make his way unsteadily towards the disruption as Korn melted into My Chemical Romance's "Dead!"

"What is going on here?!" he demanded as he took in one unsatisfactory thing to another. "Raven what have you done to that dress I bought you?!"

"It wasn't really my style," she said shrugging, "but the edits I made to it are awesome; so it's all good!"

Roger looked like he wasn't sure what part of this was "all good," but he decided to move onto the next order of displeasure. "Then do you mind my asking where our music went?" he questioned, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he spoke.

Raven's date spoke up quickly. "We decided to help liven things up a bit," he shrugged, "you made a nice effort, but the music you chose was a bit dull. It's much better now!"

"Much better now, there's hardly anyone on the dance floor!!!" Roger roared angrily gesturing to the other boys and girls now watching the scene unfold with wide eyes. "And you two," Roger turned and advanced on Matt and Mello who were both staring at him; Mello defiantly and Matt looked a little like he wanted to melt into the floor. "What on earth did you two do to the outfits I sent for you?! This is absolutely unacceptable; and where are your dates?!" He had struck a nerve.

Mello straightened his shoulders, staring at Roger icily all the while. Matt bit his lip angrily and felt his hands clench into fists of their own accord.

"First of all Roger, those straight jackets you sent us would have defeated the purpose of a "fun evening," Mello quoted coldly as his hand found Matt's and squeezed, "so we decided to do away with them."

"And as for our dates," Matt broke in squeezing Mello's hand back and feeling reassured, "that's a bit obvious don't you think?" he asked, looking up at Roger with large eyes that almost seemed to be pitying the old man's stupidity.

"Wha-what?!" Roger croaked hoarsely, looking rather faint.

"That's right Roger," Mello said smirking slightly at the expression on Roger's face, "Matt and I are each other's dates.

It was then many things happened all at once. As if in slow motion, Roger fell backwards and hit the floor with a dull thud just as Linda tripped over her extremely frilly dress and collided with one of the food tables, knocking everything onto the floor. This resulted in many of the girls squealing as they tried to move away so that their dresses wouldn't be ruined (gasp).

"Run!" Mello yelled, and taking Matt's hand, both boys ran out of the dining hall and out of sight… still holding hands.

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Matt lay awake in his bed silently listening to the loud ticking of the old grandfather clock in the hall outside the door. As he lay huddled under the covers, the mulled over the eventful day; smiling as he remembered how it had taken 3 assistants to carry Roger up to the infirmary. They said he would be out within a week; pity he wouldn't be sentenced to bed rest longer. Matt's thoughts grew quiet as he listened to the clock chiming a quarter-to twelve.

Silently, Matt tip-toed out of his bed and quickly clambered into the one next to it. Mello awoke with a start as the small redhead curled up next to him; he'd always been a light sleeper.

"Matt?! Is that you are you ok what's-"

Matt silenced the agitated blonde with a kiss, melting against the other boy's tall frame as he did so. Mello started but soon relaxed as he slid his tongue past Matt's lips. Matt moaned and pushed his tongue into the blonde's mouth tasting chocolate as he did so (no surprise there). A few minutes later both boys came up for air, panting as they tried to catch their breath and steady their pounding hearts. Just then, the clock chimed midnight, it was officially Christmas.

Matt snuggled closer to Mello, burying his head in the chocoholic's chest.

"Merry Christmas Mel."

"Merry Christmas to you too Matty," he whispered. Looking down, Mello saw that Matt was already asleep, a small smile on his pale lips as he drifted off into unconsciousness. Mello smiled gently and kissed the redhead's forehead lightly before snuggling deeper into his quilt and closing his eyes as the clock struck it's final note.

A very Merry Christmas indeed.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG YEEEEEEEEEEES ITS DOOOOOOOOONE MY FIRST MXM FANFIC *jumps up and down* im really sorry it took so long to finish but I just didn't know how to end it so I really hope you liked it!!! PLEASE GIVE FEEDBACK AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THING *glomps* Subi-chan